Meeting with reporters, Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, was clear about proposals to begin the process of amending Iowa's constitution to overturn the decision.

"It will not come up," said Gronstal. "I have no intention of taking it up."

House Speaker Pat Murphy, D-Dubuque, has issued a statement praising Friday's decision, but House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he wanted to talk to fellow Democrats before announcing his intentions.

"I haven't talked to my caucus," said McCarthy, D-Des Moines.

Rep. Dwayne Alons, a sponsor of a resolution seeking to put a constitutional amendment before voters that would ban gay marriage, said his phone lit up over the weekend.

"We're considering some options," said Alons. "That's a very important issue for the next election."

One option for gay marriage opponents seeking to amend the state's constitution is to push for a constitutional convention. Every 10 years voters are asked in the general election ballot if they want to hold a constituitonal convention.

If voters decide in 2010 they want one, it could be held the following year.

The gay marriage issue flared in the Senate on Monday afternoon, when Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley, R-Chariton, accused Gronstal of "pure obstruction." McKinley demanded action on a resolution that would start the process of amending the constitution and noted that Gronstal voted for the ban on gay marriage in 1998.

Gronstal conceded his earlier vote but said he'd changed his mind.

"I've learned a lot. I've talked to a lot of people," said Gronstal. "I see a bunch of people who merely want to profess their love for each other. I don't think that's so wrong."

Gronstal again ruled out debating the issue in the waning days of this year's session and held out little hope for next year.

"I'm not inclined to move legislation forward on this issue next year," said Gronstal. "It's time we learned to accept them."

Former state legislator Chuck Hurley, president of the conservative Iowa Family Policy Center, said gay marriage opponents would step up the pressure on Gronstal.

"He is denying 2.1 million Iowans of voting age of the right to vote on an issue of great importance to 550,000 schoolchildren," said Hurley. "Mike Gronstal needs to humble himself and listen to the people."

Gronstal has welcomed the decision and made clear he would oppose efforts to reject it.

"The politics of it are I'm not going to put discrimination in the Iowa Constitution," said Gronstal. "That's a horrible idea. The people who are pushing the amendment are saying equal protection under the law -- except. I think that's unacceptable."